The present invention relates to an electrical connector device for connecting a number of male terminals, contained in a male housing, and their corresponding female terminals of the same number, contained in a female housing.
In conventional electrical connector devices of this type, terminals contained in housings are engaged individually with lances, and locking wedges are forced into allowance spaces for the flexure of the lances. By doing this, the lances are prevented from being deformed after the engagement with the terminals, and the terminals are prevented from being disengaged from the housings. Examples of these devices are disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 54-11515 (U.S. Ser. No. 65,058, filed Aug. 19, 1970) and Japanese Utility Model Disclosure (Kokai) No. 61-7875 (U.S. Ser. No. 618,984 filed June 11, 1974 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,557,542). The locking wedges are designed so that they cannot be forced into the lance flexure spaces unless the terminals and the lances engage correctly. Accordingly, the wedges can serve also as terminal seating detecting pieces for detecting the condition of engagement of the terminals. Thus, by the use of these locking wedges, the terminals can be fitted correctly in the housings without the possibility of their being bent or damaged at the time of connection.
However, the male and female housings sometimes cannot be accurately aligned when the male and female terminals therein are connected, even though the terminals are normally retained by means of the locking wedges. In such a case, the end edges or other portions of the female housing may possibly run against the male terminals, thereby bending the same. If the bent male terminals are squeezed into the female terminals, these terminals will be rubbed against one another and damaged.
In order to solve such a problem, the female housing must be provided with grooves to receive planar bodies which are mounted on the male-housing side so as to extend along the male terminals. In an electrical connector device having a number of terminals, e.g., 9 or 16 terminals, however, a number of planar bodies must be provided in order to protect the terminals satisfactorily against deformation and the like. The female housing must be formed with many fitting grooves for these planar bodies, so that the locking wedges on the female-housing side must be divided into a number of pieces. Thus, the mounting work for these locking wedges requires much time and labor.